placenamesDerryboy
Doire Buí
School provision brought Derryboy into parliamentary debate, while its name later served a much wider electoral area.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Doire Buí · Irish · main form · validated name
- Derryboy · English · main form
Place & story
A schoolhouse question reaches Westminster
Derryboy’s national school needed a new building in 1909. When Captain Craig raised the matter in the House of Commons on 16 June, Chief Secretary Augustine Birrell explained that an application for a building grant had prompted a wider proposal. Education officials were considering combining Derryboy with the nearby schools at Raffrey and Barnamaghery, using a centrally placed schoolhouse to serve most of their pupils. [2]
The scale of the neighbouring schools
The attendance figures supplied with Birrell’s answer show the small scale of these schools. Derryboy’s average fell from 48.3 pupils in 1906 to 37.8 in 1908; Raffrey’s remained around forty-two, while Barnamaghery’s declined from twenty-one to 13.2. Officials argued that none supported two fully qualified teachers and that a combined school would improve teaching. The answer documents a proposal and its reasoning, rather than proving that the amalgamation took place. [2]
A name extending towards Strangford Lough
The 1972 local-government boundary order gave the name Derryboy to one of Down district’s twenty wards. It included Derryboy townland, Raffrey, Ballygoskin and Tullyveery, but also extended through Ringdufferin and Ringhaddy to islands in Strangford Lough. This was a much larger administrative area than the settlement itself: the historical ward name should not be used to transfer every building or event within its boundaries to Derryboy village. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Dufferin
- Civil parish
- Killyleagh
- Coordinates
- 54.43089, -5.71904 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413234 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Derryboy. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- National Schools, County Down, House of Commons, 16 June 1909 · UK Parliament
- Local government boundary order 1972, No.131, p.597: Down district · Northern Ireland statutory rules and orders
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.